Olympics day 5: U.S. curling teams going in opposite directions

Wednesday's Olympic activities in Sochi, Russia have concluded and it was another day of hits and misses for Minnesotans participating in the games.

Both the U.S. men's and women's curling teams were in action and both were in need of a victory.

U.S. MEN'S CURLING

The men, led by four Minnesotans – John Shuster of Duluth, Jared Zezel of Hibbing, John Landsteiner of Duluth and Jeff Isaacson of Gilbert – toppled Denmark by a score of 9-5 for their first win of the nine-match round-robin portion of the tournament. They are now 1-2 headed into match No. 4 Thursday against Great Britain.

The sport of curling's scoreboard is similar to that of a baseball scoreboard, but instead of playing nine innings, curlers play nine ends. Denmark jumped out to a 3-0 lead after one end and didn't score again until the ninth end, according to the Duluth News Tribune.

Men's Standings

China 4-0

Norway 3-0

Sweden 3-1

Great Britain 3-1

Canada 2-2

Denmark 2-2

USA 1-2

Switzerland 1-3

Germany 0-4

Russia 0-4

U.S. WOMEN'S CURLING

After losing to China on Wednesday, the U.S. women's curling team will likely need to defeat Japan on Thursday to keep their hopes of reaching the semifinals alive. China used its final rock of the match to beat the Americans by a score of 7-4.

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According to the Pioneer Press, the American women will most likely have to win their remaining five matches of round-robin play to reach the semifinals. They're in last place and six teams already have at least two victories.

"Anything is still possible here. You don't have to be the hottest team at the beginning of the week. You need to be the hottest at the end. We're getting a little better with each game," Chicago native Ann Swisshelm told USA Curling.